More Renovations

The following year, was our year to experience a lovely spring in Banyuls. Returning to town by passing through the Col de Banyuls, was like driving through a garden of wild flowers. Each twisting turn opened up spreading vistas of color all along the mountainous road that took us from Spain to France.

This was also the year we were to celebrate our 30^th wedding anniversary. We decided to celebrate this anniversary with our close friends, the two couples with whom we traditionally spend a lot of time when we’re in France. And, of course, we chose Pierre-Louis’ restaurant in Montner as the venue! This was going to be an expensive meal, so we decided to cut our vacation expenses by choosing a cheaper cruise line for our crossing into Barcelona. We had used this cruise company once before and were not pleased with the cuisine or service, though it was only half full.   But we thought maybe we would try it again. Terrible mistake! It was worse than ever, plus the ship was completely filled!   So we will return to our favorite Oceania ships for all our crossings in the future.

Our most important renovation would be a new garage door. The old, original, garage door was made of solid wood and moved horizontally along a track in the cement floor of the garage. It needed constant attention to clean out the track, then to keep it greased, which was something we were not able to provide on a regular basis, since we are in residence only three months a year. As we became older and older, that door became heavier and heavier. We had noticed some of our neighbors had replaced their old doors with lovely metal automatic doors. After getting a recommendation from one neighbor, we were able to receive an estimate before leaving town the year before. It would be expensive, but we had several months in which to save up. We ordered the new automatic garage door before leaving the States, using our estimate (devis) from last year, as it was to take 2 months for the door to arrive. By the time we arrived in Banyuls, our check had also arrived at the garage door company, but they would not cash it until the door arrived at their workshop (very proper). So now we just had to await arrival of the door.

One of our first agenda items after settling into our apartment once again, was to go to our plumber’s appliance store and order the new fridge, which we’d found at an appliance store last year. Our old refrigerator, which was by then about twenty years old, had a peculiar habit of freezing up the back wall so that any food up against the back wall would also freeze! This was really annoying when I put fresh produce, like lettuce, into the fridge. In recent years I would place a rolled up towel at the back of each shelf to keep food off the back wall. So the year before, we had gone to a large appliance store in Perpignan to look at refrigerators and to figure out what kind of appliance we would need to be frost free and not freeze on the inside of refrigerated compartment. We chose a tall Samsung with freezer drawers on the bottom. Fridges in France nowadays are either under–the-counter (table-top), or they are very tall to maximize the space available. If you are about 5’8” tall, your head would come to the phone on the wall in this photo; then imagine reaching up to the top of the fridge! To access the top shelf of this new fridge, our much shorter daughter will have to stand on a step-stool! And, yes, it is situated in the corridor, as the kitchen is much too small for such an appliance.

One week later, the new fridge arrived and the plumber’s assistants took our old one to the dechetterie (the dump). Unfortunately, they didn’t know how to change to doors to put them on the left hinge, instead of the right hinge.

Since my kitchen is through the open door to the right of the fridge, I would need to be able to open the door to the left in order to get things out of the shelves and drawers while working in the kitchen.   The plumber promised to return the next day, but, apparently, went off to the mountains for three days, instead! A week later, one of his assistants arrived to change the door, but found it was too complicated for him, so we waited another couple of hours for the plumber to arrive with yet another helper to reverse the doors. Two hours later, all was complete and I can now open the doors from the kitchen. One must be patient with plumbers in France—and treat them like royalty.

We had asked for a new estimate for a new kitchen window from the window company in our village. The original window opened with a hinge at the bottom. This meant that whenever I wanted to clean the outside of the window, I had to climb up on the sink and lean over the open window as far as I could, in order to clean the outside glass. When one’s age nears the 70-year mark, one is reluctant to climb up on ANYthing, let alone a kitchen sink! So we had planned for several years to replace this window with one that opened in two directions, like ones we had seen in Germany. The new window would be hinged at the bottom as well as the left side, so that it would open towards me OR open like a book. Superb! We’d also requested a roll-up screen for this window (screens are mostly unheard of in France, although they became popular a few years ago when the mosquitoes were particular bad). But the new estimate showed that the screen had doubled in price since our original estimate, so we scratched that from the order. The new window would arrive in three or four weeks.

While we waited for the new automatic garage door and the new kitchen window to arrive and be installed, we began planning for our 30^th anniversary celebration. We had made the restaurant reservation before leaving the States, but had to change it when we arrived, as my best friend’s husband had lost his battle with lung cancer while we were on the ship en route to Barcelona. We arrived just a day after his funeral, so were devastated to have missed the opportunity to say goodbye and to support his wife through this trauma in her life. He will be sorely missed from our outings together. A former matador and former stone mason, our Spanish friend always added a spark to our gatherings. Speaking only Spanish, but understanding a little French, he would wait patiently for his wife to translate our friends’ French for him into Spanish or our English into Spanish. My best friend was by this time tri-lingual and was kept very busy whenever we were all together. We had many funny moments when she would turn to her husband and translate the French conversation into English for him before realizing she was speaking in English instead of Spanish! He would nod his head thoughtfully, smiling secretly, while the rest of us burst into laughter.

So we were only five for our grand luncheon in Montner; I had produced a little commemorative program, celebrating our anniversary, as well as milestone birthdays for we three ladies, and a memorial to our missing friend.

I had ordered a Poirot silver swan cane for my husband’s gift, and had our daughter mail it to me from the States, as it was just too long to fit into any of our suitcases. Because my husband was not physically able to do any shopping in the stores, he decided that I should go to our favorite jewelry store in Perpignan (the store of the wedding rings; see: 10-“Out and About”) and purchase a Catalan garnet ring for my anniversary present! The Catalan garnets are a must for any shopping list; unfortunately, the garnets originally found in the Catalan are now only found in pieces of antique jewelry. Today’s garnets come form elsewhere in the world, but are cut and set in the Catalan style. A strictly controlled guild guarantees the Catalan garnet industry in the area. So my best friend and I met one day in Perpignan, had our usual coffee and pastries at L’Espi, the pastry café, and headed over to Gil et Jean Jewelers. We had so much fun looking at different rings and were delighted with our final choice. Luckily my husband agreed with our choice! So now we were ready for our celebration. The day before, our friends sent us a lovely bouquet of flowers.

The weather was beautiful on that day in May as we headed up to the hilltop village of Montner. We had a lovely round table in the corner of the dining room and then informed the chef that we would like to order the chef’s choice menu. This meant about nine courses chosen by the chef and the accompanying different wines for each course. Our guests were surprised with the commemorative program I’d created, which included Sara Teasdale’s poem (“Let it be you…”) from our wedding program, which my best friend had translated into French for our French friends. As she read the poem in French, it was a tearful moment for all of us as we remembered her husband, whose passing was still fresh in our minds and hearts.

Let It Be You – Sara Teasdale

            Let it be you who lean above me

                        On my last day,

            Let it be you who shut my eyelids

                        Forever and aye.

            Say a “Good-night” as you have said it

                        All of these years,

            With the old look, with the old whisper

                        And without tears.

            You will know then all that in silence

                        You always knew,

            Though I have loved, I loved no other

                        As I love you.

 We started our celebration with the obligatory champagne accompanied by parmesan galette presented in a rack.

Then mushroom and lobster bisque with Roquefort cream and star anise foam.

Third course was foie gras poached in a duck bouillon with spring vegetables,

then asparagus wrapped in a lasagne noodle with cream of tarragon sauce and pistachios.

Fifth course was galinette (fish) topped with a paper-thin layer of blanched pork fat with fava beans and peas, citrus and spinach. Sixth was lamb topped with a slice of anchovy butter, artichokes, almonds and mashed potato with gravy on the side.

Desserts then arrived: pepper ice cream on red fruits and red galette,

followed by lemon souffle with rhubarb sorbet.

And finally coffee with chocolate slabs and pistachio financieres.

Four hours later…… Yes, it was a typical French luncheon presented by Grand Toque Chef Pierre-Louis Marin, with superb cuisine, wonderful wines and fabulous company!

A month after our arrival, our new garage door was ready to be installed. I spent several days cleaning out the garage, trying to move anything that looked like it might remotely be in the way, into a more appropriate spot. The workmen arrived at 9 a.m. and were completely done by 4:30 p.m. They agreed that the old door was really heavy! We still have a “little door” within the garage door, just like in the old door. My American friends think this is “cute.” For us, it’s a convenience as we store quite a few things inside the garage, besides the car, and it’s easier to open the “little door” than to take up the entire door when we want something from storage. Now we just have to remember on our arrival each year to go upstairs to turn on our electricity, before we can open the garage door. That’s the only hitch!

While we waited for our various workmen to arrive for this year’s projects, I continued my daily routine of walking down our steep hill to fetch the newspaper and bread every morning, then back up the hill to plan our noon meal. My happiest times are always spent in the kitchen, creating new dishes and happily preparing the tried and true ones. This year the village had decided to renovate the front de mer—the seafront. As usual there was much disagreement about what should be done or if anything should be done to clean up the seafront and create a congenial modern space for tourists and villagers to enjoy. There were always those who felt that nothing should change—all change was bad and we had enough tourists. And then the others, who wanted to modernize and bring more tourists to our village, would speak up and present their plans.   After much discussion over the winter, the plans were going forward. Several of our Maillol statues were placed in storage for safe-keeping, as was the cannon that pointed out to sea.   When the flower festival arrived in late May, the seafront was looking quite nice.

The cannon eventually reappeared on the edge of the terrace later in the season, and once again guarded us from unfriendly visitors from the sea. But in the meanwhile, I was walking through rubble on my way to town. It took me a few days to re-route my usual walks in a way to avoid the rubble. As some of the villagers said with distain, “It looks like a bomb site in Afghanistan!” I was hopeful that when we returned the following year, all would be lovely and ready for the summer season.

Another two weeks passed before we heard from our window installers that the kitchen window had arrived. They quickly scheduled us for the installation the following week. I hadn’t been able to clean the outside of this window for over two years, so you can imagine how anxious I was to once again have a clear view of the sea, while washing my dishes! It’s bad enough to wash everything by hand; the lovely view is my compensation!

The workmen arrived about 1:45 p.m., but on the way to the elevator, the young apprentice dropped the toolbox, spilling screws and bits and pieces all over the terrace below! Poor guy! What a way to begin a job!

But their work was wonderful, as usual, and by 4 p.m. we had a new window—one I could actually clean on the outside!

No more murky views of the sea for me! And no more murky views of me for the sea gulls!

I was ready to do some cooking, some inventing, and some experimenting!

One of the new recipes I tried that season, was one I’d found in the Sunday magazine, Femina.   “Boulettes de poisson aux legumes” can be made with any white fish. I have used rascasse (scorpion fish) in France, flounder and whiting in the US. In English we would probably translate this recipe as “Fish Balls with Vegetables.” I prefer the French title. It’s easy to make and absolutely delicious! The fish is minced in a processor and combined with bread then formed into balls. The vegetables are stir-fried, then the fish balls and cream are added. The only time -consuming part is cutting up the pea pods (or fresh green beans) and carrots into julienned slices. I particularly like to use this recipe when finishing up odds and ends of fish after another favorite recipe, such as “Hashtag Fish.”  I also use the vegetable-cream sauce with seafood ravioli or any other pasta primavera dish.

Another new recipe that has become a favorite is Tatins de poireaux aux St. Jacques (“Scallops with Leeks on Puff Pastry”). I usually have a package of puff pastry in the freezer, so it’s easy to pull out a sheet the night before to thaw in the refrigerator, and then to cut rounds that are ready to bake. The leeks are sautéed quickly and arranged in rounds on a baking sheet, then topped with the pastry rounds and baked. Once inverted onto plates, the leeks are topped with sautéed scallops. Often I add a beurre citron sauce over the scallops. A delicious recipe!

This was the year that both our daughters visited us within a few weeks of each other. The eldest came with her fiancé in late June, driving down from Germany. Since we are never sure what time they will arrive, we decided this year to order one our Poissonerie’s large seafood platters, instead of preparing a luncheon out of my little kitchen. Our guests were to arrive on a Monday, but the fish shop wasn’t open on Mondays, so I had to pick up the seafood on Sunday, with the proviso that I open the oysters myself on Monday morning. Our kind fishmongers put a wet towel over the oysters and instructed me to thaw the whole lobsters the following morning. The platter of seafood cost about 100 euros, but was well worth the price! We had such fun teaching our guests how to open the oysters and then putting together all the seafood on a bed of ice in the styrofoam boat. It was so heavy that we needed help carrying it out to the table on the balcony.

When our younger daughter arrived, she kept her boyfriend busy, taking him all around the village, visiting all her childhood memories. We then went the rounds of all of her favorite restaurants, and met with all her honorary aunts. Her boyfriend had never traveled to Europe and, being a picky eater at that time, was a bit worried about what he would find to eat in France. He quickly fell in love with French food and this young crab-lover from Maryland said he had to best crab ever, when we ate at our favorite fish restaurant in Perpignan. I could hear our daughter give a huge sigh of relief!

Our next renovations will include a Murphy bed for our daughter’s room and a new sofa. Then our plumber will replace the remaining radiators, so that we can more efficiently heat the apartment in early spring and fall. We are getting further down our list of projects with only the air conditioning and a kitchen renovation to come. Our guests will particularly appreciate air conditioning in the bedrooms. As for me, I cannot wait until I have a stove with four or five working burners and a base cabinet with drawers! Unfortunately, changing out a cook top inevitably starts a change reaction which then includes new base cabinets and a new countertop, so maybe a new sink, too! It will be a huge and disruptive project and looms on the horizon, over which I peer with anticipation and trepidation.